You can't fail if you don't try

[iamrohn]

Completely without adequate tools (saw or jigs) I thought I'd make a Gisi style pen.

I definitely learned a small pile of stuff during this endeavor. I have some idea of the jigs I should make that would help me... certainly something (anything) more than just a piece of board and a miter gauge on my "lime green" band saw

I should probably also size the pieces a little bit more uniformly before assembling... that would help drilling the hole for the tube also, getting it a bit more centered. And I must must must sand down the gift card to remove the printing. Maybe using a slower setting glue than CA would help me also, especially for the gift card alignments.

So, I claim success in this pen in that I learned lessons. However, I'm pleasantly surprised and very pleased with the results I did manage to achieve.

This is my first pen on my journey to something more... I'm enthusiastic

Thanks for looking!

 

[magpens]

Good start !!!

You might be able to do a V-bend in the gift card so that you don't have to actually cut it.

With the green piece and the purple piece ... I can't see the joint where the V comes together and that is really good.
But I am wondering if you actually made the V without cutting and gluing.
If so, I think that is great, and I'd appreciate knowing how you did it, please.

 

[iamrohn]

Thanks @magpens , I really appreciate your comments!

To answer your question, no... I sliced each of the V's in half. I took an actual blank and ripped it the long way then made angle cuts off of each side (you might catch a glimpse of that in my band saw photo above). I think I got very lucky with alignment, sanding, and just the design of the particular blanks.

I tried a magnifying glass but even then I can't see the joint.

Maybe trying to make the V one piece of something to aspire to though!!

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[Displaced Canadian]

Some projects go well, some you learn a lot. I would say you are off to a good start. With segmenting a good flat surface, a straight guide and some sandpaper helps a lot for good joints.

 

[KenB259]

Sounds like you already figured out that this design definitely requires accurate jigs. Beyond that it also requires the components to be very accurate. I've made plenty of these and I've developed my own technique as I'm sure you will as well. Gutsy, to try this without jigs[emoji51]. I do like the colors you chose.


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[iamrohn]

Thanks @KenB259 !

Right you are, I am definitely pursuing building jigs next. A part of this exercise was to discover what I wanted in the way of jigs initially (knowing they'd change over time).

The gutsy part though, I feel, was posting photos of this jig-less attempt (thankfully this is a safe place for this of course)

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[SteveJ]

That is a great first attempt at the Gisi style. Nice choice of contrasting colors.